Ukelele

DONE! DONE DONE DONE! :D This is my submission for The Rabbit Hole June Poster Exhibit and it's fiiinaaally done ^.^ Clearly Mucha inspired ^.^;; The background is watercolor and the foreground is gouache. I used masking fluid to make the frame and the white splotchies. Phew. I'm so glad this is off of my to-do. Now I can go up to Burlington, VT and graduate in peace (yeah right XD).

Update: my pageviews are already higher than they were last month and there's still a week and a half left! ^.^

Lazy day

So, today has kinda been more about getting my series going again. For Adv. Painting we have to do something in a large format (no dimensions to speak of, just "large") so I'm looking into working directly on a dress form. We'll see. Here's are some sketches for new paintings. I picked up some new canvases today so I'll have plenty to work with.I visited an old steam-engine ferry this weekend and got to look at the inner workings, which was awesome, so I doodled a crank shaft on there. I also want to do something with a corset ("'A Girdle to set you free!' What does that mean!?" - Mona Lisa Smile) and internal organs. The ear one is to juxtapose the cochlear implant and the arms are an example of prostheses as added convenience. I also have some pieces in the works that combine actual body modifications that are purely aesthetic (read: corset piercings :D) which will eventually lead to steampunk mods that are purely aesthetic.

Cochlear Implant finished

As promised, I'll explain my Body Modification series today. I started with the Prothese painting as a parody advertisement for Art Nouveau mechanical limbs. To push the idea further, I'm working with body modifications that are both real and imagined. I may extend the idea into art deco style posters but I've been having a lot of fun working with Art Nouveau so I think I'm going to continue this series in this way for a while longer. This is the second in the Body Modification series. For this one, I wanted to juxtapose a cochlear implant with other forms of body modification, such as gauges, tattoos, unnatural haircolor, and assorted piercings. Mucha worked a lot with circular motives so I worked on a circular canvas (made from an 18" repurposed embroidery hoop) and threw some steampunky gears in for the background. Her hair is also very indicative of the Art Nouveau aesthetic.
I didn't want to scream it at the viewer but I want to see what people think of having a controversial "bionic ear" (seriously, google "cochlear implant", they're wicked cool and very real) with socially questionable alterations to one's body. Please let me know what you think.

Cochlear WIP

Alright, I know, I haven't posted the picture that'll lead up to this one yet but don't worry about it. I'm working on a series for Advanced Painting that'll combine advertisment styles (mainly art nouveau) with mechanically enhanced body parts, real or imaginary. This one falls under real.
It's still a work-in-progress obviously but I'm pretty proud of it so far. For the canvas, I stretched and gessoed over an 18" embroidery hoop. I did the underdrawing in non-photo blue (love it!) cochlear implant with cosmetic body modifications (piercings, gauges, tattoos). I always admired how a lot of the kids I grew up with took pride in their hearing aids and got really cool ones with glitter and neon colors.

In other news, I have another princess drawing in the works, a collab zine project with some other Burlingtonians, I might be working on a Halloween comic for an art swap, and I haven't forgot about the drawing for the contest winner or the tattoo I'm doing for Sheila. ^.^;;